Overnight Defense: Pentagon weighs embedding troops with Iraqis

THE TOPLINE: Top leaders at the Pentagon are considering embedding some U.S. troops with Iraqi forces, along with a range of options to bolster the military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), two U.S. officials told The Hill.

U.S. military commanders have forwarded several options to the Defense Department in the last several weeks, the officials said, as part of a mounting push within the administration to more aggressively target the terrorist group.

Right now, U.S. troops are embedded with Iraqis at the division level, which keeps them stationed at headquarters.

{mosads}One of the proposed changes would be to embed U.S. troops with Iraqi security forces. They would have the ability to call in airstrikes, a step that would bring American forces to the front lines.

But even without a role in direct combat, that option would skirt close to having “boots on the ground” in Iraq — something President Obama has vowed not to do in the military campaign against ISIS.

A second option sent to Pentagon leaders would embed U.S. forces with Iraqis closer to the battlefield, at the level of a brigade or a battalion.

Some of the options sent to Pentagon leaders would entail “high” risk for U.S. troops in Iraq and require more personnel, one of the officials said.

Another option under consideration, one of the officials said, is to send more ammunition and weapons to a coalition of rebel groups battling ISIS and Assad’s regime.

Also under consideration is increased targeting of ISIS’s production and sale of oil on the black market. The U.S.-led military coalition has struck oil refineries controlled by ISIS, but officials are looking at using different kinds of weapons to target the facilities.

“There’s always a look at doing more of what works well and doing less of what doesn’t work well and refining our efforts. That will continue,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told The Hill on Monday.

NAVY DESTROYER TO PATROL NEAR CHINESE ISLANDS: The U.S. Navy is sending a warship within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in disputed seas, a move sure to anger Beijing.

U.S. officials have been considering the patrol for months, even as Chinese officials said they won’t tolerate what they consider a violation of territorial waters.

The USS Lassen destroyer will patrol near the Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea within the next 24 hours.

The move was first reported by Reuters and confirmed by several media outlets.

In 2014, China began building up the islands to bolster its claims in the disputed area.

Earlier this month, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned against foreign patrols so close to the islands.

The United States has said building artificial islands does not give China a territorial claim to the waters and that freedom of navigation is key in a passage integral to world trade.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has repeatedly said the United States will “fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows” when asked about the South China Sea.

SENATOR PRESSES NAVY ON WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is pushing the Navy for information on an admiral who allegedly retaliated against whistleblowers and faced no reprisal.

“As a United States senator, I have worked hard to strengthen protections for whistleblowers because I understand how important they are to ensuring accountability for the use of public funds,” she wrote Monday in a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

McCaskill’s letter comes in response to a Washington Post article last week that said Rear Adm. Brian Losey was investigated five times by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The inspector general upheld three of the five complaints, The Post reported, and recommended the Navy take action against him for violating whistleblower-protection laws.

Rear Adm. Dawn Cutler, the Navy’s chief spokeswoman, told The Post that the Navy reviewed the inspector general’s findings, but didn’t believe they rose to the level of misconduct. As such, no further action was taken.

Losey commands the Naval Special Warfare Command, which includes the elite SEAL teams.

McCaskill’s letter asks the Navy to brief her on the findings of the inspector general investigation and any disciplinary actions taken in response to the findings.

STUDY: TROOP CUTS COULD HURT DIVERSITY: Troop cuts could reduce gains made in the racial and gender diversity of the military since the 1990s, according to a new RAND Corporation study released Monday.

The RAND study looked at multiple drawdown scenarios to examine the potential effects on women and racial minorities.

The cuts to “nontactical operations” jobs could have an adverse effect on female, black and, in some cases, Hispanic service members, the study said.

Cuts involving troops with longer service could adversely affect black personnel, but cuts to troops with shorter service could adversely affect women, the study also said.

Under budget pressure, the Army is planning to drawdown from about 490,000 to 450,000 by the end of 2017 and possibly to 420,000 by 2019 — creating the smallest Army since before World War II.

The Marine Corps and the Air Force are also planning reductions to their workforce, although they will be smaller.

The cuts are expected to rely more on voluntary and involuntary departures versus lowering recruitment as in previous drawdowns in the 1990s.

The services are limited in how they can use demographic information in the cuts.

Research for the study was sponsored by the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

— House Dems call for independent probes into Afghan hospital bombing

— Kerry announces steps to calm tensions over Jerusalem holy site

— Coalition: Reports of civilian casualties in hospital bombing ‘credible’

— Video purports to show raid on ISIS prison in Iraq

— Republican wants details on VA’s ‘troubled’ administrative leave policy

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